John Ericsson

John Ericsson (1803-1889), Swedish-born American inventor and engineer. Ericsson helped improve the steam engine and made important contributions to marine engineering.

Ericsson was born in the county of Värmland. When he was 13 years old, he entered the mechanical corps of the Swedish Navy, where he was tutored in math and science. In 1820 he transferred to the army, where he eventually attained the rank of captain.

Ericsson obtained leave from the army in 1826 and went to England. There he went into partnership with British engineer John Braithwaite, and together they designed and built the first practical fire engine powered by steam. In 1829 Ericsson and Braithwaite entered their steam locomotive, the Novelty, in competition with another steam locomotive, the Rocket, which had been designed by British engineer George Stephenson. Although it had mechanical difficulties and lost the race, the Novelty was the first locomotive to travel a mile in less than a minute.

During the next decade, Ericsson began work on ship design. He developed a screw propeller to use instead of a paddlewheel. The Francis B. Ogden, which incorporated Ericsson’s propeller, was launched in 1837. Ericsson came to the United States in 1839. In 1843 he sold his propeller design to the U.S. Navy, which incorporated it into the design of the steam sloop Princeton. On the Princeton’s trial trip one of its guns blew up, killing the secretary of state, the secretary of the navy, and several other people. The incident was not Ericsson’s fault, but he lived under a cloud of blame for many years afterward.

In the 1850s Ericsson developed a so-called caloric engine that operated by the expansion of heated air. He built and sold a large number of his caloric engines and became moderately wealthy.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Ericsson developed heavily armored warships for the Union Navy. The Monitor, the first vessel to be completely covered in iron, was completed in 1862. Ericsson also designed a warship, the Destroyer, that was capable of firing a submerged torpedo. In 1870 Ericsson designed one of the first solar-powered engines. It consisted of a reflective trough that collected sunlight and focused it on a pipe filled with water. The water boiled, producing steam that could drive machinery.